Film: Paranormal Activity
Night #18 – We hear it. Whatever it is, ghost or demon or malevolent energy, Paranormal Activity has one hell of an antagonist. The cause of the bumps in the night in the latest hand held horror film has a way of slowly saturating you with a cold dread that will make you curse bedtime for weeks. Oren Peli’s no budget debut as writer/director, truly, is extra-ordinarily terrifying.
Odd, then, that the first thing you think when watching Paranormal Activity is that for supposedly the most horrifying film of recent years, it doesn’t seem very scary. Katie and Micha who are the couple at the centre of the plot are bubbly, believable and endearing, joking about the creaking floorboards they put up with on a nightly basis. “This’ll be fine” you tell yourself, “I’ve seen Poltergeist”. How naive.
The anxiety begins slowly, Night #1. The film is structured around the unusual occurrences after dark that escalate very, very gradually.
This continues as a prominent theme throughout, and before long audible sighs of relief issue from the audience whenever a scene contains natural light.
However the relentless night scenes are labelled and numbered, each one slightly more ominous than the last. Each one uses the same unnerving wide-angle shot of the bed next to the open bedroom door. This creates a neat, slow boiling trepidation that keeps the audience hooked without that much really happening.
This slow pace doesn’t last forever, It isn’t long before the couple start to commune with the spirit. Micha, seeing the whole ordeal as an option to document some first grade ghostly happenings, starts toying with the spirit in the hope of catching something on tape, whereas Katie has a far more pressing need to see it come to its end.
The change in dynamic between the two as the days and weeks progress is expertly done. What begins as a persistently happy couple gradually becomes embroiled in a downwards spiral of fear and apprehension that leads to one of the most uncomfortable endings in any recent horror.
Nonetheless, it’s the cause of the terror who’s the real star. Peli does magnificently well to keep all but the slimmest facts about what in fact it is, tight to his chest. The result of this is some of the most uncomfortable viewing you will find in the cinema, and brilliantly entertaining for it. Just don’t go alone.
Chris Hamer
Paranormal activity terrified me. But a lot of my friends said it was rubbish…
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by fixzine: Film day on FiX today! Check out Paranormal Activity http://bit.ly/5WzWjK and Drag Me To Hell on DVD http://bit.ly/83nErJ…
I’ve heard mixed reviews about this film. I think you’ll either come out terrified or come out laughing at it. I’m currently waiting for somebody to actually agree to come and watch it with me…
The first hour or so is really slow, your average banging on the floors sorta stuff. But suddenly it kicks up a notch, and I found myself laughing to try and not be scared. And then I just let myself sit back and shit my pants. I’m so happy they didn’t actually show too much, it made the shadow/talcom powder scene so much more effective. It was a brilliant film, probably one of the first to proper shake me up
I found the film to be pretty funny and ended up having no sympathy for the female protagonist who was just in a perma-sulk towards the end..
[...] This post was Twitted by fixzine [...]
seeing this film tomorrow, thanks for the good review – should prepare me haha.
i’m one of those cowards that refuses to watch Horror films. And i really wanna go see this. I won’t, cos everyone is saying it’s shit scary. Anyway, good review (:
Thank you Chloe. Let us know what you think of it if you ever go see it, comment back on here!